


To burn a hole in the old grip of the familiar

by ALC_Punk



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, conversations at the end of the universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-28 22:05:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13913112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ALC_Punk/pseuds/ALC_Punk
Summary: At the end of all things, there is a parade of the past remembering. Me views it a sort of amusing spectacle while the universe implodes for her delight.





	To burn a hole in the old grip of the familiar

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: S9, probably. Zagreus, obliquely.  
> Notes: I intended to use the Agnes Obel lyrics quoted to write River fic, since I thought that would fit, and I intended to do something for the halfamoon 'Generations' prompt. And then it wasn't River, it was Me at the end of the universe, and I quite liked that, and then Ten showed up randomly during his Final World Tour (probably). That was unexpected, to say the least. The title is a different Agnes Obel lyric. Her album, Citizen of Glass, is amazing.

No future, no past  
No laws of time  
Can undo what is happening  
When I close my eyes - Agnes Obel, "It's Happening Again"

-

She was the ghost in the machine, the echo which rattled into the darkness as the universe folded around her. It shrank into pinpoints of light and then further into nothing. Planets and suns boiled into each other, catastrophic explosions that entropy ate up like a small child with candy they weren't supposed to have. Space turned inwards, spiraling into nothingness until all that was left was an ancient outpost on a planet which had stood the test of time and dimensions and come out the loser. 

The peak of Cosmic Mountain was an excellent vantage point, even if one couldn't see it for what it was. But Me remembered, as she remembered so very little else. 

One of the few tales over the eons which had stuck with her. 

An old man who had loved children and in the end been forsaken for eternity as the last of his kind. 

Or was it a tale of robots and angels?

There were times that Me wondered if she should have gone digital when Clara had suggested it. Her own handwriting had gotten rather illegible after the first couple of centuries. 

She should probably have been sad about that. But what she couldn't remember... well, she probably would repeat it, if history had anything to say. 

The chair was quite comfortable, and she wondered how long she would have to wait. 

After all, this _was_ the end of the universe. There were bound to be visitors, tourist attraction that it was. Once, there had been a cafe which zipped over the edge and back, but that sort of dining had gone out of fashion centuries ago. 

The cafe was crumbling into dust near the abandoned car park of Wonderland. 

Nebulae flared and swirled out into nothingness in the distance, and Me sipped at her tea. It was an excellent blend, though she'd long forgotten what it was called. She'd had a great store of it once, and was nearing the end of said stores. It would last until the end of the universe. 

And if it didn't, she was always capable of trying something else, or drinking nothing at all. 

Cosmic Mountain was an over-grown monstrosity, dead and petrified trees surrounding the summit as ancient watch-dogs that would eventually disintegrate into the nothingness from which all things had come. Withered vines and shredded webbing of some sort draped everything in a sort of choking vegetational pall. The dust from the slowly crumbling leaves was thick in the air. The stones of the mountain itself were gray with tinges of yellow and black. They lent a sort of ambiance that Me appreciated.

The stones, too, were slowly crumbling. 

All things, after all, come to an end. 

Sound that wasn't correct for the slow destruction of the universe came to her ears, and Me tilted her head to one side, wondering. Which one would it be this time?

Not all of them had come, after all. Not all of them had need to explore to the ends of the universe nor the impetus to throw them-self into the void. 

It wasn't as though she were keeping score. Though Clara (and Me remembered Clara as one of the things she re-wrote to remind herself of every couple of centuries) had once speculated that they would all keep score by traveling to the end of the universe and back. A sort of rite of passage, as it were. 

"Hello." He'd exited the TARDIS with a trench-coat swirling about him, a slightly manic air in his bearing as he strode towards where she sat. "Aren't you a little under-dressed for the end of the universe?"

Me considered him for a moment, then shrugged, "Tea?"

"Don't mind if I do." 

There was another chair, of course. There was always another chair, here where the end of the universe made everything permeable. He sat neatly, then dished himself up some of her special blend, sweetening with a bit of sugar. 

Me thought she had seen this one, before. There had been so many, she'd stopped keeping track of appearances, after a while. Deeds were another matter, of course. Well-kept hair, an earnest look about his face, and a rather well-cut pin-striped suit lurked underneath the trench-coat. 

It was the Converse that made her smile, a little. 

"We haven't met, have we?"

"No, I don't believe we have," Me replied. She took a careful sip of her drink and frowned, "And I don't think we should, just yet."

Too many Claras, after all. She wasn't a Clara, but Clara couldn't be noticed, even after all this time. So she really shouldn't be noticed, either. Just another young woman at the end of the universe offering him tea. Perhaps he wouldn't remember her, once he'd regenerated. If she remembered aright, this was one of the somewhat younger ones. Before the one who turned her into what she was with an accident of logic and technology. 

He studied her for a moment, eyes far more serious than she was used to from the Doctor. "Got a time machine. Could get you out of here?"

"No. Thank you, but I'm doing quite all right." Me looked away from him towards the distant blurring out of the last stars. There was something restful about knowing that the universe would end soon. That she would end soon (she wasn't tired, but it had been a very long lifetime). 

"Just thought I'd offer." He settled back in his chair, sipping from his tea and watching the spectacle of Metala Orionsis disappear--though it probably hadn't been called that in centuries. 

"I've never liked endings."

Me didn't answer him for several minutes. Then she gave a tiny sigh, "You really aren't one for watching in silence, are you?"

"Not as such, no." He gave her a cheeky grin, when she turned to look at him again. "Could be worse. Used to play the spoons a lot, though that was far too many lifetimes ago. I'd probably be off-key if I tried it now."

Another galaxy boiled away into dust and nothing, and Me gestured towards his TARDIS. "You really should go."

"It won't be long now."

"Before the end, Doctor. You have far too much to live for to let this be your ending."

"I'd say the same about you," he offered as he stood. "But something tells me you're content with this as your ending."

"And you'd be right." Uncertain as to why, Me stood up and held out a hand to him. She didn't normally shake their hands. There was no point in getting close to figments of a life-span that was ending soon. "Good luck, Doctor."

Something twisted in his expression, then it smoothed out again and he took her hand. "Oh, I don't need luck."

Retrieving her hand before he decided to do something very like him involving kidnap and coercion, Me sat back down in her chair. Tilting her head to regard him, she said, "I'm sure you don't."

When she turned to inspect the sky again, he took it as his cue and walked away. 

The sound of his footsteps echoed for longer than she would have expected, with the universe shrinking as it was. And then he was gone, the wheezing and groaning of a traveling TARDIS fading. 

Me reached out to top up her cup of tea and wondered who would be next. 

-f-


End file.
